Gates to Cede Software Reins — REDMOND, Wash., June 15 — Three decades after he started Microsoft with the dream of placing a personal computer in every home and business, Bill Gates said Thursday that he would leave his day-to-day role there in two years.

Why Ballmer should leave Microsoft — With Gates stepping down from his day-to-day role, there are reasons his long-time partner should head out the door. — (Business 2.0) - Now that Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates has started his two-year goodbye from a day-to-day role at the company …

What Ozzie Can Do for Microsoft — Expect the new software czar to nudge Microsoft toward open standards support without radically changing the company's core business — The departure of Bill Gates as Microsoft's technology czar puts a heavy load on the shoulders of Ray Ozzie …

Where 2.0 Gives the World Meaning — SAN JOSE, California (37°19'58.28"N 121°53'22.00"W ) — At O'Reilly Media's Where 2.0 conference this week, an odd mix of people gathered and gawked at a tiny spy plane mounted on a display table. Some wore the understated ties of government bureaucrats …

Microsoft developing a rival to Apple's iPod — NEW YORK (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) is developing a music and video device to compete with Apple's iPod and creating its own music service to rival Apple's iTunes, sources familiar with the plans said on Friday.

My First BillG Review — In the olden days, Excel had a very awkward programming language without a name. "Excel Macros," we called it. It was a severely dysfunctional programming language without variables (you had to store values in cells on a worksheet), without locals …

Politicos mull action against patent system abusers — WASHINGTON—U.S. politicians appeared sympathetic on Thursday to tech companies' cries for help combating what are commonly called "patent trolls"—companies that supposedly hold patents for no reason other than coaxing inflated settlements out of wealthy corporations.

Yahoo 'Strictest' Censor in China — Yahoo is stricter than any other search engine in China when enforcing censorship, said a journalism-advocacy group Thursday. — Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said their tests showed that Yahoo.cn blocked a higher percentage of politically sensitive results …

AdWords Ad Scheduling Officially Launches — Google AdWords officially launched their new ad scheduling, enabling advertisers the ability to schedule the appearance of their ads based on both time of day and day of the week. This new feature, which competes with dayparting that Microsoft AdCenter …

More cell phones than people — In 30 countries around the world, from Aruba to Italy to Hong Kong, mobile phone penetration has past 100 percent. Translation: the number of cell phone subscriptions has exceeded the size of the population. That's according to end-of-Q1-2006 data just released …

Online threats outpacing law crackdowns — SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—Authorities are cracking down on phishing and botnets, but the threats are advancing instead of diminishing, two law enforcement officials said. — Cybercrooks are organizing better and moving to more sophisticated tactics …

Schmidt Talks On Staying In China, GBuy & More — Conde Nast Portfolio, a new business magazine out next year, landed a nice coup of having Eric Schmidt speak yesterday at its launch party (Schmidt's also apparently set to be one of the first profiles in the new magazine).

World's first 18x rewritable DVD — June 14, 2006 One of the most competitive areas of technology is the speed with which we write to optical storage media - five minutes saved writing a DVD is something we're all prepared to pay for. And Samsung loves the bigger/better/faster game …

Getting The New York Times More Search Engine Friendly — Online newspapers have often ignored search engines, or viewed them with mistrust, relying on the power of their brands to drive traffic. That attitude is changing dramatically at the New York Times, and with powerful effect.